Oxalis debilis
Oxalis caerulea
pink wood-sorrel, world-wide wood-sorrel
blue wood-sorrel
basal;
petiole 10–25 cm;
leaflets 3, green to yellowish green, rounded-obcordate, 17–40(–50) mm, lobed 1/6–1/5 length, lobes apically convex, adaxial surface hirsute, adaxial surface glabrous, oxalate deposits in dots at least around distal margins, often evenly over surface.
basal;
petiole 3–10(–13) cm;
leaflets (3–)4(–5), green to purplish abaxially, green adaxially, obtriangular to obcordate, 5–22 mm, lobed 1/5–1/2 length, lobes apically rounded, surfaces glabrous, oxalate deposits absent or as few punctate tubercles near lobe apices.
irregular cymes, (3–)8–14(–28)-flowered;
scapes 15–28 cm, moderately villous to glabrate.
umbelliform cymes, (1–)2–7-flowered;
scapes 6–12(–15) cm, glabrous.
mostly homostylous, infrequently tristylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange tubercles;
petals violet to lavender or rose purple, 10–16(–20) mm.
distylous;
sepal apices with 2 orange, linear tubercles;
petals red to pinkish lavender, 8–10 mm.
not observed.
ellipsoid, 3.5–6 mm, glabrous.
= 14, 28, rarely 35.
Oxalis debilis
Oxalis caerulea
Oxalis debilis appears to be spreading rapidly in the United States. The species produces numerous bulblets in a basal cluster and apparently also can spread laterally by production of bulblets at the tips of filiform roots or rhizomes; it can form large, dense colonies. A. Lourteig (1980) noted that plants of this species occasionally fruit but consistently reproduce through abundant bulblets. They apparently are seed-sterile in North America.
Oxalis corymbosa and O. debilis were differentiated by A. Lourteig (2000) primarily by the distribution of oxalate deposits in the leaf lamina. In O. debilis, the dotlike deposits are crowded along the margins and absent to distinctly less abundant elsewhere. In O. corymbosa, the deposits are evenly distributed over the whole lamina. In their native range in South America, the two expressions are broadly sympatric and intermediates are common, as they are in the flora area. Intermediates have the oxalate dots along the margins as well as over the whole surface or sometimes mostly on the outer third of the blades, near the margins. There is no justification for formal recognition of two entities.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
LA Plants
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
